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I currently own 2 3 series, 325is and 330i. Next spring I would like to add an e36 M3 to the hobby car barn. There is a dealer on Vancouver Island that imports M3's from Japan. They are usually good cosmetically and have (as advertised) 321 hp 3.2 motors. The two currently have around 100K (60K miles) and look very good.

Are the maintenance and parts costs any different than the North American models? How is the extra 81 horsepower achieved? Electronics? Induction? or a combination of both. I assume these are similar to the European cars which have between 286 and 321 hp.

Japan is one of the few countries where both left and righthand cars are allowed, probably a holdover from the WW 2 occupation where they were forced to drive on the right. Okinawa was the last to change back to the left in 1978. The reason both are allowed is likely because of the wealthy's love of American and German cars. Great for us as after a certain age cars get too expensive to insure and many are exported, most have low mileage as Japanese tend to use public transit for work as space for parking comes at a premium. Lots of BMW and Mercedes.

Maintenance parts are typically slightly more expensive on the S50B32 vs the S50/S52 US spec motors. Sourcing them, well we can get most of the parts, but availability is becoming scares with some of the engine parts.